Campaign 2004 officially under way, US President George W. Bush was using his State of the Union address last night to call for modest expansions in health care and job-training programs, while urging Americans to stand behind him in the war on terrorism.
Bush was using one of the year's brightest political spotlights to highlight his election-year agenda, a day after Democrats formally kicked off their presidential nomination selection process in the Iowa caucuses.
Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina rode late surges to a one-two finish, pushing former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, the early favorite, to third. Republican Dick Gephardt of Missouri finished a poor fourth.
In his nationally televised address, Bush would open with remarks on national security, then move into domestic priorities, contrary to past practice, aides said. He will urge Americans to back him on combating terrorism, arguing that the path he has chosen, including invading Iraq, is the right one.
The president changed the order of his speech, ending it with a long section on domestic concerns, at a time when Americans' priorities are shifting to domestic issues. An ABC News-Washington Post poll published yesterday showed the number of Americans who want him to devote most of his speech to domestic issues has risen from 31 percent just before the 2002 address to 40 percent today.
A year ago, Bush was preparing the nation for the Iraq war, which would come less than two months after his address to Congress. This year Bush is eager to maintain public support for postwar operations in Iraq, where the death toll for American troops passed 500 this week.
Bush's job approval rating, 58 percent in the ABC-Washington Post poll taken on Sunday, is higher than for any president at this point in his term since President Dwight Eisenhower in 1956. Bush's poll numbers are buoyed by his leadership on the fight against terrorism -- 66 percent approval -- but dragged down by concerns over domestic issues, such as health care, immigration and the economy.
The second half of Bush's speech would especially focus on the economy, which has rebounded strongly since the president declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq in May. Bush will seek to convince Americans that his series of tax cuts has turned the economy around, and that he is now turning his attention to job creation, aides said.
Bush would call for new job-training grants channeled through community colleges to help prepare American workers for a changing economy.
Democrats said they were determined to make sure the president does not get too much credit; he has cut vocational education and an array of job-training programs in recent years, they said.
Democrats, gearing up for an election-year battle, began criticizing elements of Bush's speech last week. They also sought to remind voters of missteps in Bush's previous State of the Union addresses.
On Jan. 28, 2003, Bush uttered the now-infamous "16 words" about Iraq: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." His officials later disavowed the line.
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